Chapter 79: Talk Of Suspicions

We both walked out of the cafeteria and started to walk down the metallic hallway. I was thinking about taking Kyrina's had as we walked, but I decided against it. Even though she had been cute inside, I knew she had a shy personality, so I didn't want to push her. Instead, I would let her come to me.

"What's it like to be a Beastarion?"

"Hm? Well, I can feel the metal, but it doesn't really feel a lot different than before. If I shift, my body feels like it's stretching and expanding, but it doesn't hurt me. I like being a tiger, and I love the things I can do!"

Kyrina was very excited and started to lighten up, opening me to her real personality. I listened as she talked about the different things she could do with the lasers her eyes emitted. They were not just laser, but some kind of transfer beam that gathered particles and then built them the way the user wanted. It was really the ultimate form of expression for someone like an artist, which seemed to be Kyrina's passion.

We made it to the hanger, and the ship that had been badly damaged was here now swapped out for the one I had arrived on. Kyrina told me to get my MAS on, and she would change, but I asked her if she minded if I watched her change. I think she took it the wrong away at first, but she still asked me to turn around when it happened.

I did as she asked, and I thought back to the cave, and neither Kyrina nor Kyrin had shifted into their other forms. Suddenly, I heard shifting plates, gears, and then scraping of metal. I wanted to turn around so bad, but I kept myself still, waiting.

"You can turn around now."

I did so excitedly, and I turned to find that Kryina was now a silver tiger. She came up to my waist and was at least three meters long, head to tail. Her voice had come out with a more synthesized quality, and her eyes glowed amber, and I thought I could see a smile on her tiger face. I noticed there was a suit on the ground below the tiger now, and it all made sense why I needed to turn around—silly me asking really if I could watch her change out of her clothes.

I shook my head, smiling, and went over to my MAS unit, putting my hand to the faceplate. The suit opened up, and it turned, backing into the suit, watching it smoothing cover my body. Soon, I was able to move, and it moved out of the rack and walked back over to Kryina, who had moved over to inspect the ship.

Her tiger form was smooth and silver but not overly reflective, which was a good thing, or she would make an easy target in space. I wasn't much to talk with my glass like shielding and all; I was almost like a disco ball. I walked over to the damaged shuttle and stood beside Kyrina.

"So boss, what can I help you with?" I asked in a cheerful tone.

"I need you to help hold up damaged parts while I rebuild the missing or damaged parts. The rest of the time, I will be getting you to hook up everything we fix and test it. We have to be thorough when doing this since you will all die in the vacuum of space."

"You? Does that mean you don't need oxygen to survive?"

"We still breathe, but we collect air in a small tank, and we can survive off that small amount for up to two years, so we don't really worry about it. You and the others do need it all the time, so we have to make sure everything works properly."

"OK then, lead the way!"

I wasn't overly excited, but I was glad to spend some time with Kyrina and away from Irellia's PT. As I followed Kyrina inside the shuttle, I wondered o myself when Armond was going to start training us? We hadn't really seen him around much since Irellia showed up and introduced us.

Kyrina led me to the big tear and the cargo bay and then started to direct me to pieces that had been gathered by the ship's worker drones. All the drones were controlled by Alta, so most scrap pieces were found and brought back. As I picked up the pieces, Kyrina would laser them into place, making it look like there was never any damage in the first place.

"You're really good at this; the real you must have been quite the artist!"

"Real me? Ah, that's right, you said we are all in a game! I still hadn't recovered any memories yet of who I was before I came to this game or even before the last life."

"Don't worry, those things will come with time. That's why I brought you all out of that life so you could start playing the real game and having fun with everyone. That was the fundamental idea when we all joined the game, but something happened. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but I have my suspicions.

"You think they did this on purpose?"

"Yeah, but I don't have enough proof yet, so it doesn't really matter. What does matter is people like you getting lost in the game, that why I gave spent every gameplay trying to bring more people into the games, so you don't have to keep living pointless lives that are hard for no reason."

"That's really nice of you, then do you know some of the people here? Like Iona and Tilly?"

"Yeah, when I met you all in Shadeholm, I was in the middle of a game with them, and they were the lost souls, but now they are players, and some are even taking a break. Well, one is taking a break; Irellia decided she wanted to get in on the action this time. There are more players in other games going on in other worlds; every once and a while, I meet other groups like me trying to help guild the new players."

"Ah, that would be interesting! It would be fun to hear stories from other worlds and the people's experiences!"

"One day, we will run into some; we just have to work on playing our games to get to that point."

After helping hold all the parts in place, all that was left was the rips in the hull and some hookups. We had already been working for four hours, and we decided to go get a bite to eat and see how everyone else was doing. I went and put away my MAS in its rack and then turned for Kyrina to shift back.

After the sounds of her shift quieted, I was told to turn. I must have reacted faster than she had expected because I cause a glimpse of her smooth chest as she zipped up her suit. I looked p really fast, but she had caught me, and my face was red. Dang, now I look like a pervert, but she just smiled at me and waved for me to follow.

We walked in silence, and I felt stupid for being such a guy and letting my eye wander to the first piece of bare and open flesh I saw. Suddenly, Kyrina spoke up.

"Thanks for helping! It was really nice to be able to talk with you."

"I enjoyed it as well; if you want, we can go back after and work some more?"

"Hmmm? We will see after we eat. Let's see what everyone else is doing before we make any plans, OK?"

"Sure, that sounds good!"

We made our way back to the cafeteria, talking about the different things we worked on. When the doors opened, everyone inside looked like they had been through hell. Part of me wanted to just leave in fear that me getting to skip out on this hell run might make the others envious, but Kyrina grabbed my hand and pulled me in.

Tama was laying on Mikota, who was leaning on Sasha; all three looked about to pass out at any moment. Jill looked as beautiful as ever, able to skip out the hell run of ship duties with Alta, but even Maxine looked damp, not a single wisp of sand showing. Tilly looked to be the only one actually sitting up, but I could see that she had fallen asleep sitting upon closer inspection.

What had Irellia put these people through? I turned to look at Jill, but she just smiled at me; well, I guess Irellia would get everyone into shape whether they wanted to or not. That reminded me, where were Irellia and Kyrin?

"What happened to Kyrin? Did Irellia push him too hard?" I asked the group.

"No, he is the reason we are all in this bad of shape! He kept pushing Irellia, saying this is nothing, and she just kept getting madder and making us work just as hard as him. Finally, she let us all stop and told us to go eat while she dealt with his Gung-Ho attitude," Sasha half explained, half complained.

Now I could see what had happened, and I felt terrible for the group. I turned to Jill, but she seemed to know what it was thinking.

"After there is a pool we can all relax in."

Well, I guess there will be no more work on the shuttle, but I think everyone needs a chance to relax.